


Do You Need A Ride Home?

by endlessnightlock (Endlessnightlock)



Series: One Night Stands (aka One-Shot Collection) [20]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Katniss gives him a ride, Originally Posted to Tumblr, Peeta is dressed like Marty McFly, Peeta's' brothers are jerks, it's cute, teenage everlark, they go to Dennys on Halloween night, this story is from 2020 so it's not new, this was in my drabble collection but I always thought it deserved its own spot because it's cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 11:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30138720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endlessnightlock/pseuds/endlessnightlock
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Series: One Night Stands (aka One-Shot Collection) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001196
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	Do You Need A Ride Home?

Peeta ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the roots in frustration as Rye and those jerk-offs his brother called friends lept back in the car and slammed the doors shut behind them. 

This night had gone from what sounded like fun- a last-minute invitation to a Halloween party at Rye's college to "there's no way this could get any worse" faster than he would've thought possible. He'd tried his best to talk them out of leaving him alone on this deserted road on the outskirts of town, but trying to get any of them to see reason was useless. Their alcohol-soaked, collective idea of humor consisted of leaving the high school kid out on Halloween to fend for himself. In the middle of the night- in a freakin' costume. Although what he had on wasn't too bad, he supposed, looking down at himself. If he took the puffy vest off, he looked as though he had dressed pretty ordinarily tonight. He was just glad they hadn't talked him into wrapping a sheet around his groin and letting him go as a baby like they'd wanted to- yeesh.

Not to mention he currently had no way to call anyone for a ride since that bastard Marvel had thrown his phone in the bushes back at home.

He really should've known better than to trust Rye- or his brother's friends, at least. It was apparent they were sharing one brain cell. 

"I'm such an idiot," Peeta muttered as the tires squealed against the pavement as they drove off. Once the Honda was out of sight, he vented his frustration even further by kicking an empty beer bottle across the road. It wasn't like there was any chance of it hitting an on-coming car- Rye had left his ass on the most remote, infrequently traveled road he could find.

Son of a bitch, Rye- he should've known better than to trust him.

Peeta started walking down the road in the direction of town. He wasn't too hopeful of his chances of finding someone out driving tonight, so he figured he'd better get moving. While not in a diaper fashioned from a sheet, it still wasn't as if he had dressed as warmly as he ought to be considering the air temperature and the weather. Peeta would say it was about forty degrees out tonight, and the air was chilly and damp, with thick bands of fog were hanging out over the top of the fields on either side of the road from him. And if he was honest with himself, and he might as well be since he was _alone,_ this was freaking him out a little. Not that he would admit that to anyone.

Fortunately, he hadn't walked very far when he noticed headlights approaching him from behind. He stopped in his tracks and turned to watch the vehicle as it slowed to a stop on the road beside him. The car was an old one from the '80s, but as much as he could make out in the dark, it was in good shape, one of those with long bodies but only two doors. He watched a little apprehensively as the passenger side window rolled down, hoping there wasn't a serial killer inside. 

Peeta let out an audible sigh of relief once he recognized the familiar face. 

It was Gale Hawthorne- and while they weren't exactly friends, they were friendly enough with each other that he didn't feel too weird about approaching the car. "Mellark-" Gale greeted him quickly, "do you have a ride home?"

Peeta huffed- he thought the answer to that question was obvious. If he hadn't been so relieved to see a recognizable face, one he didn't want to take the chance of pissing off, he'd have made some smart-ass comment. 

"Nope," he answered instead, "I could use one, though."

Gale turned his head to talk to the driver, whose identity Peeta couldn't quite make out in the dark. The two of them spoke quietly for a few minutes before Gale opened the door and climbed out. He surprised Peeta by getting into the back seat. "Catnip will give you a ride," he said, leaving the door open for him to get in.

_Catnip… did he mean Katniss?_

"I wish you would stop calling me that," Katniss growled at Gale, answering his question as he climbed into the car, his heart in his throat. 

Gale laughed without answering, and Peeta pulled the car door shut behind him. 

"Thank you for stopping," he said, hoping his voice didn't sound funny because she always made him feel that way whenever he was in her vicinity. 

As she took off again, he turned his head to look at her discreetly. Katniss was beautiful, but that was nothing out of the ordinary, even in jeans and a sweatshirt with her hair in a messy braid draped over one shoulder like she was right now, leaning against the driver's side door as she drove. He hoped he wasn't making her uncomfortable.

Katniss shrugged but didn't seem upset. "You should thank Gale- he was the one who told me I should stop."

"Yeah, Catnip would've left your ass on the side of the road if it hadn't been for me," Gale told him from the back seat.

Peeta felt his confidence deflate a little as he watched a scowl form in Katniss's face but quickly shook it off; he wasn't exactly a guy who overthought things- he was just glad not to be walking home anymore. Getting the chance to talk to the girl he'd been crushing on since kindergarten was a bonus. Maybe he could change her mind about him, so she wasn't frowning at the mention of his name anymore.

Yeah, there's been that one incident from grade school. Peeta always meant to talk to her again after riding his bike to her house and leaving some groceries on the porch after her dad died- he'd heard her admit she didn't have anything for lunch for a solid week. Peeta had wanted to work up the nerve to talk to her after that, but he never could. Katniss had ignored him ever since. 

Who knew- maybe he'd mishandled the situation so that she wanted nothing to do with him now?

"Shut up," Katniss told Gale, glaring at him in the rearview mirror before her eyes went back to the road again.

He just laughed.

"Either way, thanks," Peeta reiterated, leaning against the seat. He stole one more glance at her face before turning his head forward. 

He told himself to play it cool.

"You're welcome," Katniss muttered. The car began slowing down then, and she flipped on the turn signal as she approached one of the side roads before turning down an even narrower road than the one they were on. The way they were heading wouldn't get them into town.

Katniss drove a little further before slowing to a stop and turning into a driveway. She put the car into park before facing Peeta again. "You need to let Gale out," she said quietly, glancing at him quickly before letting her eyes flit away once again.

Peeta didn't hesitate to climb out of the car and hold the seat back for Gale to get out after him.

"Tell Johanna I said hi," Katniss said once Gale was out of the car, and Peeta sat back down.

"Will do," Gale said before turning and walking towards the house. 

Katniss backed out of the driveway without waiting to see if he made it inside the house.

"Johanna- is that his girlfriend?" Peeta asked to fill the silence of the car now that he was alone with her. His heart was racing.

Katniss was silent a minute, and he looked over to catch her biting her lip. 

He felt himself grinning broadly. 

She snorted a little before shaking her head in a negative answer. "I don't know what you'd call this arrangement tonight, but no, they do not exclusively see each other. Tonight was a booty call, I'm pretty sure," she admitted.

Peeta felt a laugh sneak out. "Interesting," he said, and she nodded in agreement. "And you got stuck driving him out here?"

"I owed him a favor," she admitted, slowing to a stop before turning on the signal to go back out on the main road. 

"Nice car," Peeta said a minute later. He was beginning to relax a little, and Katniss seemed that way too.

"Thanks, it used to be my great-aunt Effie's car. The only place she drove it was to get her hair done once a week, so that's why it's like new, even though it's almost as old as my mom." Katniss glanced over at him. "What's up with the vest?" She asked curiously.

Peeta grinned and held up a finger. "Wait a minute," he told her before pulling a pair of aviator glasses out of his pocket and putting them on his face. "I'm Marty McFly," he told her, wondering if she'd get the reference. Not everyone was a Back To The Future fan- it was a pretty old movie.

She grinned. "Why are you Marty McFly, though?"

Peeta sighed as he took the glasses off so he could see her again in the dark. This part was embarrassing, but what the heck- he had no pride to lose at this point. "My brother claimed he was taking me to a Halloween party and then dumped me out in the country without my phone."

"That's terrible!" Katniss exclaimed like she was trying to sound sympathetic but couldn't entirely hide the humor in her voice.

He shrugged. "Yeah, Rye's a pretty big asshole."

"Sounds like it," she agreed. 

They drove in silence for a few minutes while Peeta worked up the nerve to say what he wanted. Finally, when the lights of Panem were visible, he said it. "So, I don't have my phone, but I do have my wallet. Do you want to go somewhere- maybe let me buy you dinner for picking my sorry ass up?"

Peeta watched with bated breath as she bit her lip. _Please don't say no. Please don't say no._

"The only thing open is Denny's, I think," Katniss told him, glancing at the dashboard clock to check the time, "it's pretty late."

"I like Denny's," Peeta answered quickly.

She laughed. "I wouldn't say I like it, but it's edible."

"Okay, then. It's a date- err, not really, I guess."

Katniss glanced over at him and laughed. "If Denny's is where you take a girl on her first date, then I'll admit I'm not in a hurry to go on one with you."

Peeta felt his face heat up. "I mean, that's probably fair," he admitted, ecstatic even though he was a little embarrassed.

She snorted. 

A moment later, they were turning into the restaurant parking lot.

  
  
  
  


* * *

Peeta stepped in front of Katniss, holding the door open to let her go into the restaurant ahead of him. She gave him a funny look, but he just shrugged. 

"Sorry, old habit," he admitted, following her inside, "my dad always insisted we do that for girls."

"Don't apologize; it's a nice touch, Mellark," Katniss said.

It was late, but the bars hadn't closed yet, which meant the diner was mostly empty. 

There was an older couple decked out in leather (the motorcycle kind of leather, not the sort that looked like they'd stepped out of a BDSM flick), sitting in a corner booth. Also, a guy with long, greasy-looking black hair sat on a stool at the counter with his elbows propped there, talking to a waitress. 

If Peeta had to take a wild guess at what the two at that counter were discussing, he'd go with conspiracy theories, he decided.

Being the day before Halloween for a few more minutes at least, Peeta realized as he looked at the clock on the wall- it was almost midnight, the restaurant had an assortment of cheap-looking Halloween decorations up. 

There were rubber bats suspended from the ceiling, cutout MGM Monsters taped to the walls, and corrugated paper pumpkins on about half of the tables.

" Booth or table?" the redheaded waitress asked, grabbing two menus out of the pocket near the register. She paused a minute, cracking her gum as her eyes drifted up and down Peeta's body. He smiled at Lavina (at least who her name tag identified her as) politely, and she winked at him. "Nice get-up, kid." 

" Booth," Katniss said abruptly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Can it be that one in the far corner?"

"Sure," Lavina said, "follow me, kids."

Peeta chuckled under his breath as they followed her while Katniss scowled at him. "You don't mind getting called a kid?" she whispered harshly, "I hate when people do that."

"No, I guess not. It's better than feeling like you're getting ogled, anyway," Peeta answered, barely keeping himself from visibility cringing.

He had no idea what possessed him to say something that sounded so stupid to Katniss, making it sound like he thought women everywhere were obsessed with him or something.

God- maybe he'd been spending too much time with Rye lately- that's precisely the kind of dumb shit his brother would say to a girl. He realized once again how amazingly fortunate it was that his brother and his idiot friends had dumped him out on the side of the road.

Katniss snorted as she slid into her side of the booth. Peeta sat across from her, and once Lavinia had left their menus on the table and taken their drink orders, she spoke, her eyes following the waitress across the room.

"Does that mean you get ogled by lots of waitresses, Peeta?" she said finally, unfolding and glancing down at her menu.

Peeta let out a breath- at least she hadn't taken what he said too seriously. "Sometimes, yeah," he said, jokingly.

When Katniss rolled her eyes at him, he winked at her.

She shook her head, but at least she was chuckling a little at least as she looked at the menu again, so she must not have been too bothered by his dumb comment.

"What can I say," Peeta continued, egging her on because god only knew why he couldn't just shut up and say something sane in front of Katniss, "redheaded waitresses have a thing for-"

"Here's your coke," Lavinia said, interrupting him with a stern look as she set his drink on the table, "and here's your chocolate milk, honey." 

Katniss snickered, biting her lip to keep from laughing from the other side end of the booth.

They gave Lavinia their orders- Katniss got chocolate chip pancakes while Peeta ordered MoonsOverMyHammy, and once she left again, he resumed teasing Katniss.

"I'm pretty sure I overheard Lavinia tell her coworkers," he started in again, "see that not very tall, mop-headed, kind of chunky blond kid over there-"

"You are not chunky Peeta, oh my _god,_ stop it-" Katniss said, laughing at him, "just stop."

"No, seriously, and stop interrupting Everdeen-" 

Katniss's eye roll that time would have frozen a lesser man in his tracks, but Peeta forged onward. He wanted to see if he could get her to laugh all night. That way, if she chose to ignore him after this, he would at least have his memories of this night to keep him warm. "So anyway, Lavinia told this other waitress, "I've waited for this moment for a long time; he's everything I've ever dreamed of- an unemployed high school kid who technically isn't ugly."

Peeta listened to Katniss groan as she tried to stop laughing and wondered if she knew he'd waited for this moment for a very long time- just for the chance to be alone with her.

"You are funny, Peeta," she said. After studying him for a moment, she admitted- "I'm glad you were abandoned on a country road, dressed as Marty McFly like some weirdo- this is fun. And I've always wanted to talk to you since fifth grade-"

She had to mean that time he'd left the groceries at her house, he realized but chose to keep silent and let her talk.

"-But I've felt kind of weird about it."

Peeta hoped he wasn't too forward as he reached across the table and took the hand she'd been nervously tapping against the table in a friendly gesture. He wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed gently before dropping it again. 

"I'm glad too," he reassured her in what had to be the year's understatement. "Now, I can ask you the deep questions I've always wanted to."

Katniss sat back in the booth, her cheeks pink. She looked a little nervous.

Peeta schooled his face into as serious an expression as he could before starting in. "Chocolate chip pancakes? When you could've had any one of the Grand Slams? Seriously, you didn't have to go with pancakes- you could've even gotten the steak platter."

At that moment, any tenseness left in Katniss's expression dropped away. At the same time, she explained to Peeta that she _liked_ chocolate chip pancakes, and a sirloin steak from Denny's didn't sound that appetizing, all the while trying not to laugh at him again. 

He claimed it as a victory.

Best night of his life so far, easily.

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
